Terry:
Not a discount broker, and the investor was a serious player. Would it surprise you to learn that the stock was bought by the brokerage firm itself? (g) Incidentally, they had advised him to stay put and wait a bit, but the advice was ignored.
I'll post when able on the other aspect. One has to love companies that understand the old adage, "when they want to buy blue suits, turn on a blue light" (I love that phrase). (g)
With respect to "warnings" it's been quiet. Frankly, this is a big surprise to me. What does it mean? Perhaps I'm totally wrong about the damage in the PC/semi sector. Or companies are trying to figure out how to deal with the SEC's mandated "better accounting or else", Or they have just decided to sell as much stock before the numbers come out and let the devil take the hindmost. I just don't know. That said, I'm already into some IBM puts (and underwater) but bought plenty of time and significantly d-o-o-t-m. I'll likely add an MB "second third" as soon as we get past the quarter end (from a trading point of view, it has already ended).
I haven't a clue how the markets will react to negative IBM numbers, but the cost of some puts is worth the risk for me.
Best, Earlie |
